News and press releases

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission followed up on reports of a civilian casualty in Naberezhne and observed damage to houses and other infrastructure in Horlivka. The Mission monitored the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, but its access there and elsewhere remained restricted.* An armed man fired a shot in the air 20m away from an SMM patrol in Znamianka.* The Mission observed weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The blockade of railway routes across the contact line in Buhas, Hirske and Bakhmut continued. In Kharkiv region the SMM continued monitoring the situation following a fire and a series of explosions at an ammunition storage depot...

At 12:10 on 24 March, an SMM patrol of four mission members in two armoured vehicles stopped at an abandoned bus stop about 800m west of “LPR”-controlled Znamianka (36km north-west of Luhansk) to monitor the ceasefire. On disembarking the SMM heard eight single shots of small-arms fire approximately 1km south...

CHISINAU, 24 March 2017 – The Special Representative of the Austrian OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian Settlement Process, Wolf Dietrich Heim, today concluded a visit to the region where he met political representatives of the sides in Chisinau and Tiraspol...

The security situation deteriorated along the contact line. The SMM recorded a sharp increase in the number of ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission followed up on reports of civilian casualties in Yasynuvata and Donetsk city and observed damage to civilian houses and other infrastructure on both sides of the contact line. The Mission monitored the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, but its access there and elsewhere remained restricted...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. It corroborated a report of a civilian casualty in Yasynuvata. The Mission monitored the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, but its access there and elsewhere remained restricted.* The SMM noted long queues at entry-exit checkpoints in Stanytsia Luhanska, Olenivka, Berezove and Novotroitske. It monitored a border area currently not controlled by the Government. The Mission continued to monitor the blockade of railway routes across the contact line. The SMM monitored protests outside banks in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, and followed up reports of vandalism against a bank in Ternopil...

VIENNA, 23 March 2017 – The importance of joint efforts at the global level to reduce the risks of conflict stemming from the use of information and communication technologies was debated at the joint session of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC), currently under Romania’s Chairmanship, and the Permanent Council held yesterday in Vienna...

Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall number of border crossings by persons increased at both BCPs. The sixtieth Russian convoy crossed into Ukraine and returned through the Donetsk Border Crossing Point...